The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize has announced its 30 finalists for the 2015 prize. Entrants were asked to interpret Contemporary Life in Australia with an emphasis on Australians going about their day-to-day life.

Cheryl Newman, former photography director comments on the selection process this year: “The work selected is rich and varied; it covers youth, the elderly and minorities, investigates social contemporary issues such as racism and environmental matters. Portraiture, landscape and documentary images have answered some of my questions of who and what is Australia.”

The 2015 finalist works range from a portrait of Gabi Grecko and Geoffrey Edelsten by Juliet Taylor, to a memorable image of Martin Place in Sydney following the siege in December 2014 by Toby Zerna. See the full list of finalists here.

The prize worth $50,000 will be judged by Newman, photographic historian Alan Davies, the former emeritus Ccrator of photographs at the State Library of New South Wales and Deborah Hutton, the host of event on Foxtel Arts.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday 28 October 2015. The Moran Art Prizes exhibition will open at Juniper Hall on Thursday 29 October 2015.